Sarah Palin makes “Obama’s resume look as thick as Winston Churchill’s,” Katha Pollitt wrote last week in her blog for the Nation. Apart from serving as mayor of Wasilla, what did Palin do before being elected governor of Alaska in 2006? This résumé or C. V. appears atop her two-page listing in the respected Almanac of American Politics 2008 (National Journal Group, 2007), by Michael Barone with Richard E. Cohen:

I got even more worried than usual when I heard Palin say that she would be a good VP because she was an average, normal, everyday person (I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it).

I don’t know, I’m always sort of hoping my leaders will be at least a little bit extraordinary, outstanding, above average, and with a whole lot more intelligence, insight, and, you know, knowledge of the world, than the everyday person. In other words, I want them to outshine me and most everyone I know.

Lisa —
Yes, choosing a president is a little like choosing a spouse: You want the person to have some qualities that you don’t have to allow for that alchemy that the best marriage have. Thanks for pointing out that comment, which I hadn’t read.
Jan